


Flowers in the night

by badgertrout



Category: Robin Hood (BBC 2006)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I'm here to fix everything, It's 2021 we're past the unnecessary Kate-hate, or at least mostly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29297049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badgertrout/pseuds/badgertrout
Summary: Marian had done it alone for years. Kate struggled to get through just one winter.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	Flowers in the night

The Nightwatchman ducked between the trees, cursing the snow which made moving in the forest unnoticed impossible. Somewhere further away the guards were still looking for her. She kept moving, hoping to find a safe place to hide until the danger had passed. Desperately clinging onto the sack of food she had managed to steal, she hopped over a fallen tree and kept running. The guards were getting closer. Any moment now they would find her tracks. The Nightwatchman ran straight ahead, hoping that it was the right direction. If it wasn’t for the moonlight reflecting off the white snow, the forest would have been pitch black.

Suddenly something sharp cut into her shin. She bit down on her tongue to keep from crying out in pain. There was no time to stop and check the damage. She had to keep moving. Leaving behind a trail of blood would make following her even easier, but she didn’t have anything to fix the wound with anyway. It would have to wait.

The guards’ voices seemed to be further away again. Maybe they had just gone quiet, or maybe they had lost the Nightwatchman’s tracks in the dark. The Nightwatchman prayed for the latter but kept on going. Her wounded leg was making running more difficult than it already was in the dark, with snow slowing her down even further.

Finally, she came to a path where most of the snow had either melted or been turned into slush by people and horses trampling over it. This was her chance. The Nightwatchman looked around, relieved to find that the guards were nowhere to be seen. That wouldn’t be the case for long, so she had to act quickly. She tied the sack around her waist and ran to a tree next to the path, making sure to only step on spots where there was no snow. She reached up for the lowest branches and began to pull herself up by bracing her feet against the trunk. It felt like a mistake, because the wound on her leg, which she had almost forgotten about, began hurting even more. There was no time to stop now.

She managed to pull herself onto the lowest branches and continued climbing higher. Somewhere in the distance, she heard her pursuers again. As she kept climbing, snow fell down from the branches onto the ground. If only it had been summer. The snow could easily give her location away, and if someone happened to look up, they would surely spot her in the leafless tree. As she reached for one more branch, she spotted a spot of light moving in the distance. The Nightwatchman gathered all her strength and pulled herself between two thick branches where she could somewhat comfortably sit and wait.

Just as she had settled down, the guards arrived at the spot underneath the tree. Two of them were holding torches, which gave them the advantage of seeing in the dark far better than the Nightwatchman. She could almost hear her heart beating loudly in her chest. One of the guards spotted her tracks further down the hill. She closed her eyes and prayed that none of them would think to look up. Even up between the branches she was visible enough that a keen eye would see her and easily shoot her before she had time to move. She was almost holding her breath, only breathing in and out when she started to feel lightheaded.

The guards were looking around, trying to find the rest of her tracks, but fortunately in the process they left behind their own footprints, covering hers. One of them guards – obviously the leader – thought that the Nightwatchman must have stayed on the path. They had found her bloody trail by then and assumed her to be using the more comfortable route rather than trying to flee up the hill. They stayed for a moment longer until they split up, following the path to both directions.

The Nightwatchman waited. It wasn’t until the last of the voices had died out that she allowed herself to breathe properly. She pulled her injured leg up to assess the damage. The bleeding wasn’t as bad as she had feared, and it seemed to have slowed down, but she still didn’t have anything to bind her leg with. As long as she made it home, she would be fine. All she needed was an excuse in case someone noticed that she was injured.

It would still be a while before it was safe to climb down. The Nightwatchman leaned her head against the tree. The guards were still somewhere in the forest, and she was shaking too much to run properly, either because of the cold or the excitement. A chill ran through her, and suddenly she realized how cold her fingers felt. She brought them close to her mouth and blew some warm air on them. She should have brought better clothes along. But it wasn’t like she had much of a choice in terms of clothing. And besides, she hadn’t planned on getting caught in the first place. It was meant to be an easy job. How was she supposed to know the guards would notice her, much less chase her into the forest for taking a few loafs of bread?

Kate pulled the sack to her lap. With her frozen fingers, she opened the strings and pulled out a small piece of bread. She might as well eat something before heading home. This Nightwatchman business was exhausting.

* * *

It had all started in October. A stranger rode into Locksley and had all the villagers gathered. He told them that for now, he would be acting as a replacement for the sheriff of Nottingham as well as Guy of Gisborne. After his brief announcement, the man had walked into Locksley manor, and that was the last time he ever spoke to any of the villagers.

This had started a whole lot of rumours around Nottingham. The sheriff and Gisborne disappearing seemed suspicious to anyone who could think for themselves. Why would Prince John send someone to do their job if they were only going to be gone for a while? Some speculated that Prince John had really killed the sheriff and Gisborne but was trying to cover it up for whatever reason. Others believed that either the sheriff or Gisborne had finally grown tired of the other and committed the murder himself and then fled the country. Either way, no-one knew for certain where they had gone, or when they would be back. Rumour had it that lady Marian had disappeared as well, though only a few people cared about this detail when crafting their theories. Maybe she had finally seen her chance and run away to a convent to live her life in peace.

Things got complicated when people realized that Robin Hood and his gang had disappeared as well. Apparently, they had last been seen at Nettlestone surrounded by a hundred mercenaries, but after that there had been no sign of them. Some believed that the outlaws had died, but most people knew that if that were the case, all of England would have heard about it. People quickly connected the disappearances to each other. Still, there were no answers, and with winter approaching fast, the people around Nottingham needed to prepare themselves.

At least with the sheriff and Gisborne gone, life seemed more peaceful. Even though the new sheriff still upheld all the same taxes and overall tyranny that had been in place for years, he didn’t spend his time preparing public executions, chasing outlaws or yelling at the people for whatever minor inconvenience he had experienced that day. In fact, most people rarely saw the man in the first place. Despite this, the people really could have used Robin Hood’s help that winter. Many families barely had money to feed themselves, and without any sign of the outlaws coming back, they began to ration their food before the first snow had even arrived.

It was the same in all the villages. By the end of November Prince John himself had come up with the idea of some new tax, and people began to get more and more frustrated. Kate watched helplessly as her mother was forced to hand over whatever money they had managed to save that year. After that, she didn’t need much justification for stealing. Really, it was like she was meant to do it. The cart was just sitting there, outside the manor, as the new sheriff was expected to arrive later that day. It was all too easy for Kate to grab whatever she could carry. It wasn’t a lot, but just to make sure it wouldn’t look too suspicious, she left some of the food by her neighbour’s house. She knew their youngest child was sick, so they probably needed it. When Kate’s mother asked where the bread had come from, she dodged the question quickly.

After that first time, Kate knew she could get away with it. The sheriff’s replacement came to Locksley every Tuesday for some reason, so that was a great opportunity to steal some food from the manor. At first it was just small amounts, but over time Kate got bolder, and soon she was stealing enough to get at least a little food to half the houses in the village. Some boys from Clun had tried to steal some flour, but they had gotten caught, and both lost a hand for it. Kate secretly felt proud of herself for getting away with her own scheme. The new sheriff still noticed that some of his food went missing whenever he was at Locksley, but since all the villagers knew to keep quiet, Kate felt safe in continuing her little hobby.

Just because the villagers weren’t willing to confess to receiving some of the stolen food didn’t mean they didn’t speculate on the thief’s identity. By Christmas, most of the people were certain it had to be the Nightwatchman. The last time anyone had seen him was months ago, when he escaped execution in Nottingham. With the sheriff and Gisborne gone, perhaps the Nightwatchman felt safe in continuing his work.

Kate didn’t mind being compared to the Nightwatchman. He had helped her family several times over the years. She also knew that having someone else be the main suspect kept anyone from even entertaining the idea that the thief was her. So, she let people keep their suspicions. She found some of her father’s old clothes, which her mother had kept for some reason, and used them as a disguise. They were a little too big on her, but at least if someone did see her, they would mistake her for a boy.

Over time, she got bolder with her stealing. She was no longer satisfied with waiting for the new sheriff to come to Locksley, so she began going to Nottingham. It was ridiculously easy to grab something from a cart going in or out of the castle, or to even dress up as a kitchen maid and steal some food directly from the castle.

The one drawback was that it was incredibly tiresome to lead this double life. Kate’s mother and brother were already questioning why she was suddenly sleeping late almost every morning. It wasn’t like she could be the Nightwatchman during the day, so she had to mostly work at night. Many times, she got home so late that she only got a few hours of sleep. She was exhausted but didn’t want to quit. How could she, when people relied on her? Where were Robin Hood and the real Nightwatchman when they were needed?

Kate felt slightly betrayed by the outlaws that had once helped her family. She knew she shouldn’t, since she didn’t know why they had disappeared in the first place. Regardless, they had practically made the people reliant on their help, only to go missing without a word. Even the Nightwatchman was gone, and he had been around for years. He most likely wasn’t even in Robin’s gang – although people speculated that they were allies – so what was his excuse? Had he been too scared to stay in Nottingham after nearly being executed? Or had he just gotten tired of running from guards and sneaking around? Perhaps he had assumed that Robin would be around to continue his work, and decided to retire.

In late December, all of her nightly activities caught up to Kate. She got sick and was too tired to get out of bed for a few days. A part of her was grateful for the excuse to rest and slow down, but deep down she was itching to go back to being the Nightwatchman. It was starting to become like a bad habit that she couldn’t stop. Once she had gotten well enough to go about her daily chores, she still waited a couple weeks before resuming her illegal activities. Her mother kept a close eye on her, paranoid that she would fall ill again. Two people had already died in the village this winter. Kate was not so worried – they were old and sick to begin with – but pretended to take it easy to stop her mother from worrying too much.

Kate slipped back into her role as the Nightwatchman easily. This time, she was better at planning than before. All the time she had spent resting had given her an opportunity to come up with better strategies, and she was no longer just taking whatever opportunity presented itself. Instead, she went looking for them. A few times people caught a glimpse of her, and rumours of the Nightwatchman’s return spread around the villages. Kate wished she could have helped more than just the people of Locksley, but there was no way she could go to Nottingham, steal some food, run to another village and finally back to Locksley all in one night, at least not without exhausting herself completely. Locksley would have to do for now. Perhaps in the spring she could try hiding food somewhere in the forest and distribute it later. She would just have to wait for the snow to melt so that her tracks wouldn’t be so easy to follow. She already had to take detours when going from Nottingham to Locksley to avoid being followed.

Really, stealing wasn’t so hard. Kate thought that perhaps she had previously given too much credit to Robin’s gang for it. She even briefly considered asking her brother to join her in order to make things easier and more efficient, but quickly decided against it. Risking her own life was one thing, but she wasn’t willing to put her family on the line as well. She could keep her friends and family fed by herself. Maybe when she got better at this, she could help the other villages as well. At least, that was what she thought, until Gisborne returned.

The day he rode back into Locksley, the mood in the village changed. Everyone tensed up, already dreading what was to come. No-one had ever seen Guy of Gisborne truly happy, but when he returned, he looked absolutely miserable. People knew it would only be a matter of time before he took his frustrations out on the villagers, and they would have to hear him yell at them for something they hadn’t done. And with Gisborne being back, it could only mean that the Sheriff had returned as well.

Kate might have been taking risks with the whole Nightwatchman thing before, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew that with the sheriff and Gisborne around, she shouldn’t get cocky. She went back to only stealing from Locksley, and took much less than before, hoping that perhaps her theft wouldn’t even be noticed.

Unfortunately, rumours about the Nightwatchman reached Gisborne’s ears. When he rounded up the villagers, his guards forcibly dragging people from their homes, Kate was sure that someone would die that day. Gisborne was furious, demanding to know what the villagers knew about the Nightwatchman. Obviously, no-one could tell him anything, but that just made him angrier. Kate knew her secret was safe, but she still feared that someone might get hurt, and for a split second considered giving herself up to make it all stop.

She felt grateful that no-one ended up dying. Instead, Gisborne had all the villagers individually questioned. He seemed obsessed with catching the Nightwatchman, more so than ever before. When it was Kate’s turn to be questioned, the guard interviewing her seemed bored out of his mind already after spending the day asking the same questions over and over without getting any answers from the clueless villagers. He gave up with her quickly, and once he had left her alone, she let out a sigh of relief. Why was Gisborne so obsessed with the Nightwatchman? He had chased him before, but this time there was something else there, something personal.

Kate was the Nightwatchman only a couple times after that. Gisborne was on high alert and added more guards to catch the Nightwatchman. Kate managed to dodge them, but only nearly got away with it. With spring coming around, she knew things would be at least a little better soon, so she thought it was best if she stopped. At least for now. Perhaps next winter she could try again.

* * *

It turned out that Kate could start helping people a lot sooner than she thought. She just hadn’t planned on doing it by actually becoming an outlaw. Being a part of Robin’s gang was a lot different than acting on her own. Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing, but Kate struggled to find her place. It had been one thing to sneak off at night and get to spend the day with her family, but living in the forest was a lot harder than she had thought. She was so close to home, yet she felt like her family lived across the world. Her brother’s death was still like a fresh, open wound, which she tried to push away from her mind.

The others tried to be accommodating to her. Allan was easy to joke with, and Much was always looking out after her. John knew exactly how much space she needed, and Robin was… well, Robin. Easy to look up to, though some of his charm as a hero fell away when one had to live with him. But they had all lived as outlaws for far longer than she had, and they all knew exactly what their roles in the gang were. At least there was Tuck, who was another newcomer like Kate, though he seemed to have a lot easier time adjusting to life in the forest. Maybe it was the fact that he had the skills and education that Kate didn’t. One would think that spending the whole winter being the new Nightwatchman would account for something.

It took her a while to even remember that the Nightwatchman had been rumoured to be an ally of the gang. So, one night, Kate decided to ask, if the other knew his real identity. Immediately, the mood in the camp changed. The others, apart from Tuck, looked uncomfortable, all turning to look at Robin. He seemed clearly annoyed at the attention he got, and without saying a word walked out of the camp. It was then Much who answered her with a lowered voice, perhaps in case Robin was still close enough to hear.

At first Kate was surprised to hear that the real Nightwatchman had been lady Marian. On a second thought, it did make sense. The others told Kate what they knew about Marian’s secret, and Allan said that if it wasn’t for him dressing up as the Nightwatchman, Marian would have been executed. Kate only nodded, and let the others go on, and eventually it turned into Much, Allan and John all talking about lady Marian and her life. Kate stayed out of it. It was obvious to her that this was the first time after Marian’s death that the three men had actually talked about her. Everyone was always careful around Robin not to bring her up, so Kate had to wonder if the others had ever had the proper chance to mourn lady Marian, who, from what she could gather, had been a friend to all of them.

Kate had never known lady Marian well, but she’d always admired her for being one of the kinder nobles. She had earned even more of Kate’s respect, when she had famously left Gisborne at the altar and hit him in the face. But now, after finding out that lady Marian had been the Nightwatchman all along, Kate had a new kind of respect for her. She wished she had gotten to know the woman behind the Nightwatchman’s mask. Kate knew she had died in the Holy Land, but the details of it were a mystery to her, and seeing how touchy everyone still was about the subject, she didn’t want to ask. All she knew was that Gisborne had something to do with it, and now Kate had one more reason to hate the man.

* * *

There wasn’t a lot left of Knighton. After Gisborne and his men had burned the house down, no-one had touched the place. Only the stones were left, marking where the walls had once been. In the darkness of night, it all seemed eerie. Kate walked around the abandoned ruins. This felt wrong, like she was walking in someone else’s house, even though the house had not been there for a long time, and the people that had lived in it were all dead.

Kate wandered around, trying to piece together what the house had once been like. That was where the door must have been. The fireplace was obvious as well. Kate turned around the flowers in her hand. She hadn’t really thought about it when she had stopped to pick them. And it was night, so most of them weren’t even blooming properly. Nevertheless, she had felt she needed to bring something. She felt silly, standing here, holding flowers meant for a woman she didn’t even know. Yet deep down, she felt like she did know lady Marian, or at least a part of her. Becoming the Nightwatchman had given her a chance to feel what Marian must have felt when she first began helping the poor. And she had done it alone for years. Kate had struggled to get through just one winter. Still, there was some kind of a connection between them. Even if lady Marian had never known it.

Kate set the flowers down on the remains of the fireplace. She stood there for a moment, trying to find something to say. Maybe it would have been easier, if there had been an actual grave for her to look at. But this was all she had. Kate opened and closed her mouth but decided that maybe it was the best to say nothing. If lady Marian could hear her, she probably already knew what Kate wanted to say. After all, being a Nightwatchman wasn’t about the words, but the actions.

**Author's Note:**

> This all ties into my idea of "Kate should have been the new Nightwatchman". If I could rewrite all of season 3, I would handle that concept differently, but in this fic I decided to try and find a way to make it fit into canon. I don't care if I'm the only one willing to defend Kate and make her into a likeable character with a good storyline, I'll do it anyway. And Marian deserves more respect as well. The time of Man Pain is over, it's time for women respecting and admiring each other and their work.


End file.
